Here are some considerations for anyone considering a strategic default. This is when the homeowner elects to stop making loan payments on purpose and tries to live in the home essentially for free until the lender forecloses.

• As the housing market continues to struggle for stabilization, many homeowners are turning to strategic default.  Almost 11 million homes are now underwater, according to Corelogic.  Around 3.5 million homeowners are behind in their payments and another 1.5 million homes are already in the foreclosure process, according to RealtyTrac. 
• Aside from the moral quandary of whether strategic default is the right decision, there also are other factors to consider.
• The borrowers’ credit scores will take a hit. According to FICO, someone with a 680 credit score would see their score decline anywhere between 85-100 points after a strategic default, and someone with a 780 credit score could lose 140-160 points.
• Borrowers who are considering strategically defaulting on a house should look at it as a last resort, not a first option.  Financial troubles could be eliminated by refinancing, especially if the Obama administration’s program is implemented.
• Each state has its own rules and regulations regarding foreclosures, which affect both the length of the process and what the borrower could be liable for in the end.

From C.A.R. Market Matters

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your  Napa Valley Broker Extraordinaire, selling  Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

President Obama details plan to help responsible homeowners
In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a plan to help responsible borrowers and support a housing market recovery.

Key aspects of the president’s plan include:

• Broad-based refinancing: The president’s plan will provide borrowers who are current on their payments with an opportunity to refinance and take advantage of historically low interest rates
• Homeowner Bill of Rights: The president is putting forward a single set of standards to make sure borrowers and lenders play by the same rules, including: Access to a simple mortgage disclosure form, so borrowers understand the loans they are taking out; full disclosure of fees and penalties; guidelines to prevent conflicts of interest that end up hurting homeowners; support to keep responsible families in their homes and out of foreclosure; and protection for families against inappropriate foreclosure, including right of appeal.
• First pilot sale to transition foreclosed property into rental housing: The FHFA, in conjunction with Treasury and HUD, is announcing a pilot sale of foreclosed properties to be transitioned into rental housing.  C.A.R. is opposed to bulk sales of REO properties in California.
• Providing a full year of forbearance for borrowers looking for work: Following the administration’s lead, major banks and the GSEs are now providing up to 12 months of forbearance to unemployed borrowers.
• Pursuing a joint investigation into mortgage origination and servicing abuses: This effort marshals new resources to investigate misconduct that contributed to the financial crisis under the leadership of federal and state co-chairs.
• Rehabilitating neighborhoods and reducing foreclosures: In addition to the steps outlined above, the administration is expanding eligibility for HAMP to reduce additional foreclosures, increasing incentives for modifications that help borrowers rebuild equity, and is proposing to put people back to work rehabilitating neighborhoods through Project Rebuild.

C.A.R. and NAR support the Obama Administration’s efforts to help homeowners and the struggling housing market, because restoring the health of the housing market is critical for the nation’s economic recovery.

From C.A.R. NewsLine

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your  Napa Valley Broker Extraordinaire, selling  Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

Shopping for the best rates

Interest rates are the lowest in decades, enticing many borrowers to shop for a loan.  Mortgage lenders adjust their rates based on perceptions of risk, so unless the borrower can show they’re a low-risk individual, the borrower is unlikely to qualify for a rate that matches those seen in recent advertisements and headlines.

Making sense of the story

• The rates quoted are averages drawn from a variety of financial institutions, and lenders use varied approaches to set them.  Consumers who want to try for the lowest rates available need to consider basic factors, such as credit score, points, property type, down payment, and length of the loan.
• Credit score: The ideal borrower has a FICO score of 740 or higher, which puts the individual in the best place for pricing.
• Points: The lowest rates usually are decreased by paying a fee called a point, or 1 percent of the loan amount.  Borrowers may buy points in order to get the best rates at many banks.  Points might make sense depending on the borrower’s financial situation and how long they expect to stay in the home.
• Property type: Borrowers planning to buy a duplex or a four-unit build likely will have a higher interest rate.  Condominiums also may have a rate premium rate, especially if they are newer or the down payment is less than 25 percent.  Lenders also may charge more if the borrower is not planning to live in the home.
• Down payment: Borrowers who put down at least 25 percent are more likely to obtain the best interest rates.  Lenders offer different breaks on rates if equity in the property is higher, so borrowers should ask what is available.

Length of loan: Borrowers who are likely to move in a few years may want to look into an adjustable-rate loan with a low interest rate fixed for a few years, and adjusted afterword.

from C.A.R. Market Matters

 Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

Napa County Residential Properties including condos/townhomes (Source: BAREIS)

• Listed for sale (482): lowest $59,000, highest $29,500,000, average price $1,261,887, median price $612,000, DOM 170
• Contingent sale pending (257): lowest $109,200, highest $8,350,000, average price $481,165, median price $338,000, DOM 148
• Sale pending (106): lowest $97,500, highest $1,250,000, average price $317,169, median price $272,000, DOM 91
• sold last 6 months (684):  lowest $60,000, highest $9,000,000, average price $495,072, median price $326,450, DOM 118

Calif. median home price: December 2011: $285,920 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by region/county December  2011: Marin: $693,880 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by region/county December 2011: Madera: $106,000 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: November 2011: 109.8, an increase of 11 percent compared with the prior year.
 
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Third quarter 2011: 52 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates: Week ending 1/12/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.89% fees/points: 0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 3.16 fees/points: 0.8% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.76% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

Here are the stats for 2011 for the Napa Valley

The most significant thing to note is the consistency of the number of sales, the dwindling inventory but the fact prices have remain flat from 2010 to 2011. The other very interesting stat is the static days on market. This is due primarily to the hot market in sales of anything priced correctly under $400,000 especially in the Cities of Napa and American.

Over the nest few weeks I will be doing several upvalley cities and the Town of Yountville. Here, you will be surprised how different the market is especially in the properties over $1,000,000. Thanks for viewing.

Here are the numeric stats for 2011 for the Napa Valley

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

California pending home sales post higher for seventh straight month

California pending home sales fell 9.1 percent in November but were up from a year ago, according to C.A.R.’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)*.  The index was 109.8 in November, based on contracts signed in that month, down from October’s index of a revised 120.9.  However, the index was up 11 percent from November 2010, marking the seventh consecutive month that pending sales rose from the previous year.

At 55.1 percent, equity sales made up more than half of home sales in November, up from 53.9 percent in October and 54.4 percent in November 2010.

The total share of all distressed property types sold statewide fell to 44.9 percent in November, down from October’s 46.1 percent and 45.6 percent in November 2010.

Of the distressed properties sold statewide in November, 21 percent were short sales, up slightly from the previous month’s share of 20.7 percent and up from last November’s share of 19 percent.

At 23.5 percent, the share of REO sales was down from October’s 24.9 percent, and down from the 26.2 percent reported in November 2010.

Here are the stats for distressed sales for Napa County:

Currently there are 836 properties for sale or in escrow for residential listing in my MLS, BAREIS. 82 of these are bank owned, a 9.8 percentage. When you add the short sales, in foreclosure and Notice of Default properties to bank owned, the total distressed properties, there are 312, a 37.3 percentage. REO’s sold during November 2010 were 29 of 115 total properties sold compared to November of 2011, 30 of 110.

from C.A.R. NewsLine

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

Housing Scorecard shows overall outlook mixed

HUD and the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury released the December edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard this week.  Data in the Scorecard show some subtle improvements in the market over the past year, but underscore fragility as the overall outlook remains mixed. For example, new and existing home sales rose compared with the prior month and remain higher than a year ago, and homes are more affordable than they have been since 1971. Median-income families today have nearly double the funds needed to cover the cost of the average home.  However, home prices showed a slight dip from the prior month and remain below year ago levels.

The December Housing Scorecard features key data on the health of the housing market and the impact of the Administration’s foreclosure prevention programs, including:

• More than 5.5 million modification arrangements were started between April 2009 and the end of November 2011 – including more than 1.7 million HAMP trial modification starts and more than 1.1 million FHA loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions.
• Nearly 910,000 homeowners have received a HAMP permanent modification to date, saving an estimated $9.9 billion in monthly mortgage payments. The Administration’s programs continue to encourage improved standards and processes in the industry, with HOPE Now lenders offering families and individuals more than 2.6 million proprietary mortgage modifications through November.

from C.A.R. Newsline

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

The number of Napa County foreclosures in 2011 are at a four-year low. From the Napa County Assessors office there were 1,087 property owners here who received a Notice of Default (NOD) in 2011 compared to 1,173 in 2010. A notice of default may be filed after an owner is 90 days delinquent in payments, or longer, depending on the lender.

Here are the statistics for NOD’s and foreclosure for the past five years:

For comparison to nearly a decade ago, in 2002 and 2003 there were only 10 Trustees Deeds recorded in Napa County each year.

What does this mean for someone buying here in the Napa Valley? In my opinion, very little for there are still a lot of distressed properties out there, the so called shadow inventory. Just how many, no knows exactly but in the last six months for all Napa County, there were 691 residential sales of which 357 were distressed sales. That is a 51.7 percentage and this number has stayed very constant for the last six months.

The most amazing statistic is with all these sales, the median price for the last six months has gone down as well as the number of homes for sale. Nearly six months ago, the number of homes on the market was 691, today there are 487. The median price then was $332,000, today it is $329,900. The number of all residential sales, this includes single family detached and condos, for the last six months, 357, compared to the previous six month period, 388, is also down probably due to the lack of inventory, not demand. Demand has stayed extremely HOT especially in properties under $400,000. Most often there are multiple offers on these homes, sometimes as many as 10!!!

The logical person would think with shrinking inventory,  number of sales and prices remaining the same, plus the current record low interest rates and large demand, could consider this the bottom everyone talks about. Not in my opinion for I think a true bottom will not happen till we get rid of the large number of bank owned properties on their books and to be foreclosed on yet, the shadow inventory. Every estimate I see states there are still approximately 12 million homes which are under waster, owe more than they will sale for, That is nearly 25 percent of all properties in the United States.

So unfortunately, I don’t have the best of news. I think it is at least to 2013 and most likely till 2014 that we will truly be at the bottom. The rainbow and pot of gold on this cloudy prediction, once we truly bottom there will a pop in home prices. I feel it will be 25 – 50 percent over the next few years. If you can wait till then, that will be the time to sell for after this pop, I don’t think there will be another in the lifetime of anyone reading this.

A few statistics for the U.S. and California, according to data service RealtyTrac, 1,887,777 U.S. properties in 2011 had foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions and one in every 31 California housing units had at least one foreclosure filing during the year.

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

]]> http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/hope-for-real-estate-in-the-napa-valley-number-of-napa-county-foreclosures-at-four-year-low/feed/ 0 http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/bank-of-america-reduces-short-sale-back-up-offer-submission-period-from-14-days-to-8-days/ http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/bank-of-america-reduces-short-sale-back-up-offer-submission-period-from-14-days-to-8-days/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:38:27 +0000 Curtis Van Carter http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/?p=4919

Short Sale Soundoff: BofA shortens backup offer period

 
Bank of America has made a change to its short sale process in regards to backup offers.  According to BofA, based on agent feedback and to reduce overall cycle times, the bank is reducing the window agents have for submitting a backup offer on a short sale.  Instead of 14 days, backup offers must now be submitted within eight calendar days after the initial offer becomes invalid.

When a backup offer becomes necessary, agents should contact their short sale specialist immediately, and let the specialist know if they have a backup offer to submit.

Within eight calendar days, resubmit the listing data, submit the short sale offer, and upload the offer documents and supporting documents.  Any backup offer will require analysis and investor approval, regardless how similar it may be to the previous offer.

If no backup offer is available, the short sale will be closed in Equator by the short sale specialist.  The agent should return to marketing the property and may initiate a new short sale in Equator when a new offer on the property is received.

from C.A.R. NewsLine

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com

]]> http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/bank-of-america-reduces-short-sale-back-up-offer-submission-period-from-14-days-to-8-days/feed/ 0 http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/loss-in-home-values-for-u-s-homeowners-continues-in-2011-estimate-nearly-700-billion/ http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/loss-in-home-values-for-u-s-homeowners-continues-in-2011-estimate-nearly-700-billion/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:06:08 +0000 Curtis Van Carter http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/?p=4897

U.S. homes set to lose nearly $700 billion in value during 2011

U.S. homes are expected to lose more than $681 billion in value during 2011 – 35 percent less than the $1.1 trillion lost in 2010 – according to analysis of a recent Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

The bulk of the total value lost during 2011 was in the first half of the year. From January to June, the U.S. housing market lost $454 billion. From July to December, Zillow projects residential home value losses will total a significantly lower $227 billion.

Regionally, only nine out of 128 markets showed gains in home values during 2011.

The majority (92 percent) of markets analyzed for the report showed home value losses for 2011. The biggest home value losses, in terms of total dollars lost in 2011, were in the large MSAs of Los Angeles (down $75.5 billion), New York (down $44.8 billion), and Chicago (down $41.7 billion). The large overall losses were due to the high number of homes in these metro areas, along with decreases in median home values.

From C.A.R. NewsLine

Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com.

Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville

My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com